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Sikh Woman Stabbed by her Father-in-Law for Seeing a Muslim Man

Shocking injuries of Sikh woman stabbed in the eyes by her father-in-law who accused her of having an affair with a Muslim as he is jailed for 10 years. Jageer Mirgind’s eyes gouged with knife and wrists slashed in violent assault.

Manjit Singh Mirgind, 51, attacked her claiming she had ‘ruined his family’. He became angry when he became convinced she was ‘sleeping with a Paki’. Victim’s children witnessed the horrific ordeal and pleaded for him to stop. Mrs Mirgind has been left blind, scarred and with a stutter following attack.

Mirgind jailed for ten years and eight months at Snaresbrook Crown Court in England.

He eventually left and went home as his wife called an ambulance for Mrs Mirgind. He later turned himself in at the police station and told them exactly what had happened.

Judge Nigel Peters QC said: ‘You have accepted that you have caused the most serious injuries to your daughter-in-law.

‘You set about her having taken umbrage because you felt she was having affairs when it turned out she had been receiving prank calls.

‘You set out with great hostility and vengeance – you punched her, forced to the ground and kicked her and took knives to her face and wrist to gouge her eyes.

‘She has since lost a lot of sight in both eyes and there is major scarring to her face.

The attack occurred at the victim’s home in Kensington Gardens, Ilford, but she has since moved to Nottingham

‘She has a stutter as well, most likely caused by the loss of confidence and lack of sleep and general work.

‘So distressing was that her children, your grandchildren, witnessed it from start to finish and pleaded with you to stop but you did not stop.’

Father-of-four Mirgind stared at the floor as he was jailed for ten years and eight months at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Crown lawyer Jonathan Turner said Mrs Mirgind’s children had suffered, having begged the defendant to stop and they saw the blood everywhere.

‘Their life has changed and they cannot sleep alone while the marriage of their parents has disintegrated.’

Mrs Mirgind has since moved to Nottingham with her two children.

The court heard the defendant Mirgind had been a leading member of the Sikh community and often drove young worshippers to the temple.

In a statement read out to Snaresbrook Crown Court, pictured, Mirgind said he was ‘stressed out’ at the time

In a statement read by his lawyer Edward Boateng-Addo, he said: ‘I am a hard-working family man who left his job to care for his ill mother seven years ago.

‘I was stressed out at the time and nothing can excuse what I did.

‘I was trying to protect her – I am a peaceful and honest man and I know I will not have the chance to apologise but I do look to the court to say how sorry I am.

He had initially been charged with attempted murder but prosecutors later accepted a plea of causing grievous bodily harm with intent in order to avoid having to go to trial.

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ALAIWAH'S PHILOSOPHY
About 12 years ago, while studying Arabic in Cairo, I became friends with some Egyptian students. As we got to know each other better we also became concerned about each other’s way of life. They wanted to save my soul from eternally burning in hell by converting me to Islam. I wanted to save them from wasting their real life for an illusory afterlife by converting them to the secular worldview I grew up with.
In one of our discussions they asked me if I was sure that there is no proof for God’s existence.
The question took me by surprise. Where I had been intellectually socialized it was taken for granted that there was none.
I tried to remember Kant’s critique of the ontological proof for God. “Fine,” Muhammad said, “but what about this table, does its existence depend on a cause?” “Of course,” I answered. “And its cause depends on a further cause?” Muhammad was referring to the metaphysical proof for God’s existence, first formulated by the Muslim philosopher
Avicenna.
Avicenna argues, things that depend on a cause for their existence must have something that exists through itself as their first cause. And this necessary existent is God. I had a counter-argument to that to which they in turn had a rejoinder. The discussion ended inconclusively.
I did not convert to Islam, nor did my Egyptian friends become atheists. But I learned an important lesson from our discussions: that I hadn’t properly thought through some of the most basic convictions underlying my way of life and worldview — from God’s existence to the human good.
The challenge of my Egyptian friends forced me to think hard about these issues and defend views that had never been questioned in the milieu where I came from.
These discussions gave me first-hand insight into how deeply divided we are on fundamental moral, religious and philosophical questions. While many find these disagreements disheartening, I will argue that they can be a good thing — if we manage to make them fruitful for a culture debate.
Can we be sure that our beliefs about the world match how the world actually is and that our subjective preferences match what is objectively in our best interest? If the truth is important to us these are pressing questions.
We might value the truth for different reasons: because we want to live a life that is good and doesn’t just appear so; because we take knowing the truth to be an important component of the good life; because we consider living by the truth a moral obligation independent of any consequences; or because we want to come closer to God who is the Truth. Of course we wouldn’t hold our beliefs and values if we weren’t convinced that they are true. But that’s no evidence that they are.
Weren’t my Egyptian friends just as convinced of their views as I was of mine? More generally: don’t we find a bewildering diversity of beliefs and values, all held with great conviction, across different times and cultures? If considerations such as these lead you to concede that your present convictions could be false, then you are a fallibilist.
And if you are a fallibilist you can see why valuing the truth and valuing a culture of debate are related: because you will want to critically examine your beliefs and values, for which a culture of debate offers an excellent setting.
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